Gender inequalities in housing in the Brussels Region

The qualitative part of the study focused on the place of gender within housing organisations in the Brussels-Capital Region. The material collected, based on 12 comprehensive interviews with public, semi-public and voluntary sector employees, revealed the gradual institutionalisation of gender equality, albeit with considerable heterogeneity between the different organisations.

On a regional scale, an analysis of the legislative modalities for access to social housing has shown a contrast between a social housing policy focused on disadvantaged households and a housing policy relating to acquisition or rental for the middle class.  Social housing policy "de facto" favours groups with the most indicators of difficult access to housing, including single-parent families and women who are victims of domestic violence. In terms of the other categories of housing supported by the public authorities, private property or architectural production, gender issues are less present, if not completely absent from considerations. It emerged that the translation of the gender perspective into measurable variables only concerned poor and/or immigrant populations.

At the organisational level, gender budgeting seems to be contributing to a greater understanding of social phenomena through a gender lens. However, staff awareness is still in its infancy. Four obstacles to gender mainstreaming have been identified: the lack of sufficient and available data, the high workload of public authority staff, the feeling of "rivalry" between social issues, and the highly pyramidal organisation that dilutes staff's sense of responsibility.

At the level of professional practices, gender mainstreaming can be a lever for change. As far as architects' practices are concerned, the analysis showed that the following "best practices" in terms of gender equality are gradually spreading: attention to the quality of spaces, to the visibility and/or facilitation of domestic work, and to communal spaces and their management. In social work, support is often gender-blinded, i.e. it focuses on the "person", a neutral individual who needs to be empowered. Lastly, feminist associations play an essential role in disseminating best practices and raising awareness of egalitarian issues.

The quantitative phase focused on six dimensions: home ownership access, the proportion of income spent on housing, housing quality, social housing, housing size and housing as a workplace.

While women generally find themselves in less favourable situations than men in terms of housing, the situation is more nuanced from the point of view of household type: single women and single men are often in more difficult situations than couples, while single-parent families face multiple negative factors.

This study highlighted a number of limitations and gaps in the data on gender and housing in the Brussels-Capital Region. To improve the situation, standardised and exhaustive data is required for the relevant gendered categories, collected at regular intervals, digitised and centralised by each organisation involved in housing.

Promoting women's access to housing, but also keeping them there, stepping up the fight against gender-based discrimination, genuinely safeguarding housing for women victims of domestic violence, abolishing the status of cohabitant, improving women's access to home ownership, etc., are all regulatory measures that can aim to curb women's inadequate housing. In addition, the public authority must not forget to adopt more comprehensive measures, such as rent control, extension of the social housing stock, etc.

To overcome the obstacles to gender mainstreaming in housing organisations, it is recommended that training programmes be organised to reflect on how to produce more inclusive housing, consolidate the position of staff competent in gender mainstreaming and transform professional practices to promote inclusiveness.

To find out more, read the brochure "Gender inequalities in housing in the Brussels-Capital Region" and/or watch the video below, in which Professor Chloé Salembier and data analyst Sévérine Guisset briefly present the study, its findings and its recommendations.